Beebe to talk with Sebelius about Medicaid ideas LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe is meeting with the Obama administration this week to see how much flexibility Arkansas may have as it decides whether to expand Medicaid's eligibility under the federal health care law. A spokesman said Beebe plans to meet with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Friday while he's in Washington for the National Governors Association meeting. Beebe is a Democrat who backs expa...

House passes bill to limit most abortions LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Arkansas House has approved a bill to ban most abortions in the state at 12 weeks into pregnancy if a fetal heartbeat is detected. Representatives passed the bill on a 68-20 vote Thursday with two members voting present. The bill contains exceptions for rape, incest and risks to the mother's life and the House added an amendment to include an exception for certain fetal disorders. The bill now goes back to the Sena...

Okla., Ark. AGs sign Illinois River agreement OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The quality of water in the Illinois River will be the focus of a comprehensive, three-year study under an agreement announced Wednesday by officials in Oklahoma and Arkansas. The agreement was reached following months of negotiations between the two states concerning phosphorus limits in parts of the river that travels from Arkansas through 100 miles of eastern Oklahoma, according to separate statements by Oklahoma Attorn...

Governor signs lethal injection legislation LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas got a new lethal injection law Wednesday, as Gov. Mike Beebe signed legislation rewriting the old law that the state's top court struck down last year. The new law puts Arkansas on track to resume capital punishment, although more court challenges could further delay the state from executing a prisoner for the first time since 2005. Legislators brought up the measure this year after the state Supreme Court in ...

Lawmaker files open carry gun legislation LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A group of Arkansas lawmakers filed a proposal Wednesday to allow the open carry of handguns in the state, but the House Speaker said he opposes the measure. Rep. Sue Scott, R-Rogers, the bill's lead sponsor, said open carry is needed to advance Second Amendment rights in the state and deter crime. "Many police officers have told me they would rather have open carry rather than concealed carry," she said. "Criminals ar...

Senate approves voter ID legislation LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Arkansas Senate voted Wednesday to require voters to show photo identification before they can cast a ballot, a requirement that one Democratic lawmaker compared to poll taxes and other past efforts to disenfranchise voters. The Republican-led Senate approved the requirement on a mostly partly-line 23-12 vote, with two Democrats joining the chamber's 21 Republicans. Past efforts at voter ID legislation have failed ...

Senate expands lobbying 'cooling off' law LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Arkansas Senate has voted to expand a one-year ban on former legislators becoming lobbyists to include the state's constitutional officers and judges. The Senate on Wednesday unanimously approved a proposal by Republican Sen. David Sanders of Little Rock to expand the lobbying "cooling off" period approved by lawmakers two years ago. Sanders' proposal would apply to the state's seven constitutional officers, circui...

Panel OKs police powers for private campuses LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Senate has been sent a proposal that would give arrest and detention powers to campus police at private universities and colleges in Arkansas. The Senate Education Committee on Wednesday advanced a bill by Republican Rep. Mark Biviano of Searcy that would allow private campuses to maintain a law enforcement agency with arrest and detention powers. The House approved the bill on Monday. Biviano told the panel that g...

Climate contradiction: Less snow, more blizzards WASHINGTON (AP) — With scant snowfall and barren ski slopes in parts of the Midwest and Northeast the past couple of years, some scientists have pointed to global warming as the culprit. Then when a whopper of a blizzard smacked the Northeast with more than 2 feet of snow in some places earlier this month, some of the same people again blamed global warming. How can that be? It’s been a joke among skeptics, pointing to what seems to be a braze...

House approves bill making gun list secret LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Arkansas House has approved a proposal to make secret the list of about 130,000 residents to carry concealed weapons. Lawmakers voted 84-3 on Tuesday to approve the measure to exempt the concealed carry permit list from Arkansas' Freedom of Information Act. Arkansas media organizations had opposed the change, arguing that it would undermine a 2009 compromise lawmakers approved to restrict access for some - but not ...

House approves redo of lethal injection law LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Arkansas Legislature has approved a rewrite of the state's lethal injection law after it was thrown out by the state Supreme Court last year. House lawmakers on Tuesday voted 89-1 in favor of the measure, which spells out in greater detail the procedures the state must follow in carrying out executions. The bill that the state must use a lethal dose of a barbiturate but leaves it up to the Department of Correction ...

Panel approves 2 bills limiting abortion LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A House committee has approved a pair of bills that would restrict most abortions in Arkansas. One would ban most abortions 12 weeks into a pregnancy and another would ban them at 20 weeks. The 12-week ban passed the Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee on Tuesday after previously falling short of the votes needed to move on. The proposed ban is based on when a fetal heartbeat can be detected by abdominal ultraso...

Gov. Beebe signs anti-human trafficking bill LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Gov. Mike Beebe has signed legislation that toughens the state's anti-human trafficking law. The new law offers protections for victims, including a right to sue their abductors. The law also creates new penalties for anyone who knowingly patronizes a prostitute who is a human trafficking victim. Also under the law, the attorney general will now be allowed to create a task force to suggest other ways to address human t...

Panel tries again with 12-week abortion ban LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A proposal to ban most abortions in Arkansas 12 weeks into a pregnancy is coming back before a House panel days after it fell short of the votes needed to pass. The House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee on Tuesday planned to consider the revised version of the proposed abortion ban. The panel is also expected to vote on a revised version of a separate measure that would ban most abortions at 20 weeks. The pa...

AG rejects medical marijuana ballot measure LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has rejected the wording of a revised ballot measure that would legalize medical marijuana. McDaniel on Tuesday rejected the wording of the proposed initiated act by Arkansans for Compassionate Care, a group that campaigned for a similar medical marijuana initiative that voters rejected last year. The proposal would allow patients with qualifying conditions to purchase marijuan...

House panel approves 2 abortion bans LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A House panel advanced two measures Tuesday that would ban most abortions in Arkansas, overcoming complaints from Democrats about how one of the restrictions was initially approved by the committee. The House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee approved by an 11-5 vote legislation that would ban most abortions at 12 weeks into a pregnancy. The panel earlier approved another bill that would ban most abortions at ...

Bill proposes raises for judges, prosecutors LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The co-chairman of the Joint Budget Committee has proposed reinstating a 2 percent pay raise for Arkansas judges and prosecutors that the Legislature had rejected earlier this year. Democratic Sen. Larry Teague of Nashville on Tuesday proposed giving the state's judges and prosecutors a cost-of-living raise. The 2 percent raise had been in an initial version of the General Appropriation Act, but lawmakers took the pay ...

Senate OKs electronic proof of insurance LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Arkansas Senate has approved legislation allowing drivers to display their proof of insurance using cellphones and other electronic devices. The Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill that would allow drivers to show their proof of insurance cards on paper or electronically. The measure would allow drivers to present the electronic proof when registering vehicles and during traffic stops. Several other state...

Ex-VP Gore criticizes climate change news coverage LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Former Vice President Al Gore says the American media and outsize effect of corporate money in politics are partially to blame for inaction on global climate change. In wide-ranging remarks during an appearance Monday evening at the Clinton Presidential Library, Gore said journalists should have done a better job questioning the 2012 presidential candidates about climate change. He railed against what he called the cor...

McElroy blames speech on medical condition LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - An Arkansas lawmaker is blaming an incoherent speech he delivered on the House floor on a non-life threatening medical condition he was diagnosed with over the weekend. Democratic Rep. Mark McElroy of Tillar said in a statement issued by the House Monday that he was treated and released by physicians over the weekend for an unspecified condition after delivering a rambling, incoherent speech on the House floor Friday m...